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Cloudera Data Platform vs IBM Spectrum Computing comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 6, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cloudera Data Platform
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Master Data Management (MDM) Solutions (10th), Data Management Platforms (DMP) (4th)
IBM Spectrum Computing
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Hadoop (6th), Cloud Management (25th)
 

Featured Reviews

Miodrag-Stanic - PeerSpot reviewer
Distributed computing improves data processing while upgrade complexity needs addressing
There are challenges with upgrading or updating various services like Spark, Impala, and Hive on on-premise and bare metal solutions. We aim to address these issues with a Kubernetes-based platform that will simplify the task of upgrading services. We also wish to implement lakehouse capabilities with Iceberg or Delta Lake frameworks.
OmarIsmail1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Specialist appreciates intelligent workload management, strong support, and scalability
The best features of IBM Spectrum Computing are common across many of their storage products. The software is solid, meaning that the code is stable. They take business seriously, which is what IBM stands for - International Business Machines. They always maintain a business-oriented approach in their software development. It's not simply clicking through interfaces; in IBM software, they consider their actions, process flows, and workflows around business processes. It requires understanding IBM and their methodology, as the software operates accordingly. I have utilized IBM Spectrum Computing's intelligent workload management feature. We use Insights, which is connected to the cloud. This provides AI capabilities for analyzing the configuration, offering smart recommendations on new code, warning about bugs in current code, and suggesting configuration improvements through its advisor tool. The predictive analytics feature in IBM Spectrum Computing enables optimal software performance through Insights. However, being a storage administrator requires foundational knowledge and understanding beyond these tools. For troubleshooting, it's efficient in spotting bottlenecks, but understanding the terms and metrics is essential as it provides answers that need interpretation.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The product offers a fairly easy setup process."
"The scalability is the key reason why we are on this platform."
"Ranger for security; with Ranger we can manager user’s permissions/access controls very easily."
"The best features Cloudera Data Platform offers are the processing power with Spark and the distributed data storage, HDFS, which helps us handle massive volumes of data."
"The Hortonworks solution is so stable. It is working as a production system, without any error, without any downtime. If I have downtime, it is mostly caused by the hardware of the computers."
"Ambari Web UI: user-friendly."
"The upgrades and patches must come from Hortonworks."
"We use it for data science activities."
"Spectrum Computing's best features are its speed, robustness, and data processing and analysis."
"Easy to operate and use."
"The best features of IBM Spectrum Computing are common across many of their storage products."
"IBM's ability to cluster compute resources is impressive, with built-in support for scenarios like VR and active-active configurations,"
"We are satisfied with the technical support, we have no issues."
"The comparison was challenging, but the IBM Spectrum Scale offered a balanced solution. Our engineers rated itsanalytics capabilities equally high as Pure Storage. For workload management, Spectrum Computing provided effective solutions that met our needs. Workload management is part of a complete solution that uses different tools. There were the cloud and HPC parts; within HPC, there were parts like liquid cooling, simple computing, storage, and orchestration. The orchestration team handled the workload management."
"This solution is working for both VTL and tape."
"I have utilized IBM Spectrum Computing's intelligent workload management feature through Insights, which is connected to the cloud."
 

Cons

"Security and workload management need improvement."
"It would also be nice if there were less coding involved."
"The version control of the software is also an issue."
"The initial setup may take several hours or days, depending on the challenges faced during installation. It's not always a smooth process due to potential complexities."
"I would like to see more support for containers such as Docker and OpenShift."
"The cost of the solution is high and there is room for improvement."
"It's at end of life and no longer will there be improvements."
"For on-premise use, I would not recommend Cloudera Data Platform as it is expensive and complicated to upgrade."
"The deduplication software isn't quite up to speed with the market."
"IBM's sales and support structure can be challenging."
"This solution is no longer managing tapes correctly."
"We'd like to see some AI model training for machine learning."
"The deduplication software isn't quite up to speed with the market. While IBM has excellent compression technology, specifically on their FlashCore modules, they lag behind competitors such as NetApp in deduplication capabilities."
"SMB storage and HPC is not compatible and it should be supported by IBM Spectrum Computing."
"We have not been able to use deduplication."
"Spectrum Computing is lagging behind other products, most likely because it hasn't been shifted to the cloud."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Currently, we are using the product in a sandbox environment, and there is no licensing. We might choose a licensing option once we get the results."
"It is priced well and it is affordable"
"Spectrum Computing is one of the most expensive products on the market."
"This solution is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Performing Arts
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Transportation Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise18
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Hortonworks Data Platform?
Distributed computing, secure containerization, and governance capabilities are the most valuable features.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Hortonworks Data Platform?
The pricing model for Cloudera Data Platform is complex and has increased significantly compared to CDH. Initially, CDH had a straightforward pricing model based on nodes, but CDP includes factors ...
What needs improvement with Hortonworks Data Platform?
Cloudera Data Platform should include additional capabilities and features similar to those offered by other data management solutions like Azure ( /products/microsoft-azure-reviews ) and Databrick...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Spectrum Computing?
IBM Spectrum Computing consistently offers competitive pricing. When solutioning new implementations, IBM always presents the best solution and price. In a recent comparison with Pure Storage and N...
What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Computing?
IBM Spectrum Computing had limitations with remote copy services between head office and disaster recovery sites. In the last year, IBM has improved the code by re-engineering it to policy-based re...
What is your primary use case for IBM Spectrum Computing?
The typical use case for IBM Spectrum Computing is that it's an all-rounder. It can be used in various scenarios, such as the retailer I work for that has batch processing. It's on-demand when perf...
 

Also Known As

No data available
IBM Platform Computing
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
London South Bank University, Transvalor, Infiniti Red Bull Racing, Genomic
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